Close-Up: NSLS Users

From Alabama to Australia, more than 2,200 visiting scientists
from over 400 institutions came to NSLS to conduct their research in
FY10, exactly 700 of which were new to the facility.

These scientists, known as “users,” primarily are awarded beam time by
submitting a general user proposal through a peer-reviewed, web-based
system. The proposal is rated based on various scientific criteria and
can remain active for up to six cycles of operation (about two years).

In FY10, about 1,000 requests for beam time were submitted, with about
one-third of those requests on new proposals. Beam time is given without
charge, as long as the research results are published in open
literature. Work that is proprietary in nature is charged on a full-cost
recovery basis consistent with U.S. Department of Energy guidelines.

The majority of NSLS users (74 percent) come from academic
institutions, and about one third (33 percent) come from New York State.
Another third come from locations nearby in the northeastern states.
About half of the users are U.S. citizens and almost 27 percent are
women.

The greatest number of users works in the life sciences field (42
percent), followed by materials science (29 percent). When the number of
days spent on experiments is considered, materials science studies make
up the largest portion of beam time used (42 percent).

In FY10, almost 40 percent of the researchers working at NSLS were
students in undergraduate or graduate programs. About 23 percent of the
users were post-doctoral researchers, with faculty members, professional
staff, or research scientists making up the balance.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical,
biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security.
Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry
and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven
Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State
University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory
facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.